For Our Tender Hearts

In this week's Torah portion, Tetzaveh, we are commanded to make offerings every day that will help lift up the ner tamid, the continual light that shines from generation, to generation, to generation.

Then the Torah goes on to describe the garments to be worn by the kohanim, the ones who guide the sacred service.

As we listen to all these descriptions we might ask ourselves:

What do we place upon our hearts
To help us serve with dignity,
For the sake of harmony and truth?
Ex 28:2

What do we place upon our hearts
To help us remember who and what we serve?
Ex 28:29-30

What do we place upon our hearts
When our hearts are broken,
Weary,
Anguished,
In despair?

We place upon our hearts
         Names of those we love,
         Names of those we care for.

We place upon our hearts
         Names of those who have loved us,
         Names of those whose joys, challenges,
         Struggles and blessings we carry.

We place upon our hearts
         The gifts of the ancestors and our hopes for the children.

And we place upon our hearts
         Qualities we yearn to live by,
         Ideals we seek to uphold.

I place upon my heart:
         Love and Compassion,
         Trust and Faith,
         Courage and Determination.

I place upon my heart
         The willingness to be present,
         Even in the face of loss and grief.

I place upon my heart
         The intention to allow joy
         And to sing Halleluyah.

 I place upon my heart the promise
         To seek and reflect the ner tamid,
         The infinite light,
         That shines through brokenness,
         Always.